


Finite Time

by stephanericher



Series: 31 Days of Horoscopes [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-17 15:32:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9331667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephanericher/pseuds/stephanericher
Summary: 1/13: If you've been aiming for a specific career goal, Aquarius, it might suddenly manifest with the current planetary energy. You could be catapulted into the public eye in some way. The possibility of an increased income could arise, although it might be speculative at this point. Your mental energy continues high, so you should be able to easily grasp all the ins and outs of your situation.





	

**Author's Note:**

> so this 31-day challenge is based on the wonderful [31-Day Horoscope Challenge by @icandrawamoth](http://archiveofourown.org/series/621022). Simply: read your horoscope for the day from horoscope.com (Aquarius for me); use it as a writing prompt.

Shiro essentially stops listening after he hears the word “Kerberos”. He’s not trying to be disrespectful, and on most levels of his brain he knows this is important information, but the way Matt’s practically pressing his leg to the ground with his fist next to him Shiro’s pretty sure he’s not listening all that closely, either, and Matt’s dad definitely knows and they’ll get a rundown later and Shiro’s almost sure he must have misheard, except they keep saying it. Kerberos, Kerberos, Kerberos—something about teamwork and chemistry along with stellar performance academically and in the field, and they’ve both been on missions before but neither of them has gone that far out of Earth’s orbit, nowhere near the asteroid belt let alone the fucking Kuiper Belt. He hasn’t let himself, aside from a few scattered moments, let himself imagine this much. Part of it’s dumb superstition and part of it’s wanting to shield himself from disappointment, when they give it to someone with more experience or someone with a different, more necessary, skillset. Except they’re not going to; they haven’t; they’ve picked him.  
  
“Of course,” Matt’s father interjects, “this is all top-secret.”  
  
Shiro nods; Matt’s father knows as well as they do that the news will get out within the hour. Someone will tell a student who will tell a friend who will tell a crowd and there will be eighty different versions out there, but no one will want to bring it up because they all know it’s top secret, so they’ll never actually ask. The official word will come out in a few weeks, but until then Shiro’s content to let the rumor mill do its work.  
  
He hears himself thank the officers again for the opportunity and accept their praise; he feels his legs walk in the direction of the door. Neither he nor Matt says anything as they walk toward the cafeteria, as if by saying something they’ll wake up to find this a hell of a surreal dream. Maybe it is, and Shiro’s subconscious is having so much trouble keeping it up it’s done a half-assed job on Matt and that’s why he’s not his usual chatty, boisterous self right now. Shiro’s about to grab the door when Matt grabs his jacket.  
  
“Shiro. Pinch me.”  
  
He does, hard enough to hurt, and Matt yelps—and then he pinches back. He gives worse than he gets, but Shiro’s very definitely awake now and very sure this is real.  
  
“Dude,” says Matt. “Dude.”  
  
“I know,” says Shiro, and the smile on his face is going to crack his jaw in two (if Matt’s face doesn’t break first).  
  
*  
  
The rumors are buzzing by the end of breakfast, but school is school and they have to keep doing well especially now that Kerberos is in their future. It’s easy to focus on that and just keep the mission in the back of his mind, something he is absolutely going to research further when he gets the chance later today. Which it turns out he can’t do at lunch, because just as he’s about to slip off to the library Matt grabs him so they can play coy with some of the other students and then it’s classes all afternoon. Matt tries to pull him off to a party before dinner, but Shiro makes his excuses and manages to get back to his room alone. He’s about to crack open a book when he flops back on the bed and sighs.  
  
This is the first time he’s really had to himself, to think, since this morning, and it still hasn’t really sunk in. Him, Kerberos. It’s probably not going to seem really real until they start doing real briefings and test runs, but even so. A knock at the door startles Shiro out of his thoughts again.  
  
“Come in!”  
  
Keith walks in, shutting the door behind him before stuffing his hands back into his pockets. He’s staring Shiro right in the eye the way he usually does. Shiro smiles and straightens up, patting the spot next to him on the bed, and Keith starts talking before he’s even all the way over there.  
  
“Kerberos, huh?”  
  
“Yeah,” says Shiro, and he’s grinning all over again.  
  
Keith smiles back, less face-breakingly wide, but real all the same. “Congratulations. You deserve it, you know.”  
  
Shiro hums, not out of a false sense of modesty, but because he’s pretty sure Keith isn’t finished. He takes Keith’s hand in his.  
  
“Bring me back a rock?”  
  
Keith’s voice is quiet, loud enough to be heard but low enough to convey things he probably doesn’t want to, enough for it to hit Shiro how long he’s going to be gone, from Earth and from Keith. It’ll be years, years they won’t be able to get back if they’ll still want them together at the other end.  
  
“I’ll bring you back lots of rocks,” Shiro says. “different kinds, whatever we find. Maybe a fossil or something.”  
  
Keith squeezes his hand. He knows exactly what Shiro’s trying to do with that train of thought, but he’s not going to say anything about it. Not now, anyway—he will at some point, probably when this has all sunk in for both of them that it’s really happening. They’ll talk about this properly when that time comes, but for now Shiro just wants to pull Keith a little bit closer and exist, together, for a bit. They won’t get infinite time like this, and the window might be smaller than either of them wants to admit, so for now Shiro’s going to treasure it. Keith’s palm is dry the same way everything is around here, dry and light to the touch, as if it’s covered by a thin layer of smoothed-out sand. It’s nice against his, familiar and comforting.  
  
“And tell me all about it when you get back?” says Keith.  
  
“Course,” says Shiro. “Everything.”  
  
“I’ll hold you to it, then,” says Keith, squeezing his hand again.  
  
His voice is still quiet, almost trembling, but the grip of his hand is sure and firm.


End file.
